#bambanani17

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Early in the morning, we left our hotel to our first company visit that headed us to MTN (Mobile Telecommunication Network). MTN is one of the biggest Mobile telecommunications operator in South Africa. After a warm welcome at their head office campus in Fairland, Johannesburg, we were introduced to their most pioneering innovation, that is far away from MTN's core business and was developed by the company over the past few years. As the insufficiency of electricity supply is one of the biggest problems in South Africa, MTN started to invest in developing alternatives to the classical electricity production. The result is a R22-million, 2-MW trigeneration plant powered by methane gas. This trigerneration plant is not only generating electricity from the methane gas, but also use a by-product of the cooling process: The 400 ºC exhaust gas is sent through lithium bromide absorption chillers to cool water, which MTN uses for the cooling needs in the building (mainly for the in-house data center). This whole process achieves the impressive effectiveness of 85%! This form of methane gas transformation is brand new and MTN was able to save the patents on it. The company now still evolves in the transformation technology and plans to apply for a license which allows it to provide electricity to other consumers - so to sell electricity and thus, enter in the electricity market. Besides the methane gas transformation, MTN developed another solution for electricity production: On the rooftop of the company's building, they installed a concentrating solar cooling system to cool down their data center. Solar mirrors tracking the sun by the use of GPS generate pressurized hot water which is then used to power an absorbation chiller that produces cold water. The mirrors are that smart, that they are able to turn themselves downwards the ground in case the sun is not shining, so that they are protected from rain and pollution. The visit at MTN was quite surprising and inspiring. The company demonstrates impressively how a new revenue stream can be developed based on a global South African problem. MTN allowed us to explore their data center, the methane gas transformation engines and the mirror installation at the rooftop. Two of the responsible engineers - Luan and Ivan - never got tired to answer all our questions and provided unique insights to us. photo & text by Murielle

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Vodacom, Thuesday, 24.1 Arriving at Vodacom, we were cordially greeted by five members of Corporate Affairs and Innovation units. Corporate Affairs impressed us by proving their awareness about the most diverse stakeholders. They stressed the importance of direct communication wtih all of them in an appropriate manner, depending on their influence and their interest in Vodacom’s activities. “We listen and we act.” Innovation is a key topic in both Master Courses. However, during the presentation by a representant of Vodacom’s Innovation unit, we all gained new insights about what innovation can mean for a company. In the context of interdisciplinary collaboration, the speaker emphasized the need to develop “translatable organizations”. Engineers, managers, designers from all business units have to develop a common language in order to exploit opportunities and to face threats. Therefore, a “feel free culture” is needed, allowing anybody to talk to anybody else. “We will fail because we are very good at what we do. Our ability becomes our disability.“ When players from the most different sectors (e.g. telecommunication, banking and energy) disrupt each other’s businesses, it is good to be prepared for the unexpected. cosmic photo by Marya text by Marya & Zoltan

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Khayelitsha, Wednesday, 1.2 photo by Kathrin

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Telkom, Monday, 30.1 After an exciting tour to the table mountain, our journey continues with the visit at Telkom in Cape Town. Telkom is a leading communications services company in South Africa, which was founded in 1991 headquartered in Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa. The business office we were going to see was quite hidden outside of downtown, so after a few turnings by car we finally arrived our destination.  We were warmly received by our host when we arrived Telkom. He guided us to a large meeting room where he held his presentation about the circumstances in South Africa in terms of digitalisation and innovation. Digitalisation is more than the understanding of technology but it creates a new social and business phenomenon. Companies need to respond to the digital world accordingly while fostering staff training and education of digitalisation as well as openness towards changes. As our host is a responsible IT leader with Telkom, he shared his professional experiences with us. IT is a tough business and as an IT leader it is necessary to have a strong vision to convince the management how important IT changes are within a corporation in order to adapt to today’s fast-growing technologies and innovations. However, even at Telkom the use of social media is not very well integrated yet in the business and should be therefore improved. With help of these possibilities of social media, communications could be unified and the collaboration across the African continent could be enhanced.  After a long and stimulating presentation there was a little tour through the premises of the site, especially through the server stations. As at MTN, we saw where the data was stored and secured. It was an impressive journey and again, we have learned more about digitalisation and about a powerful company of South Africa such as Telkom.     photo by Kar Ying text by Manuela & Kar Ying

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Engen Oil, Thursday, 2.2 The CIO Peter Du Plooy of the South-African based Oil company Engen Oil gave an insightful presentation about how they approach the global trend of digitalization and what initiatives they are taking. Their main focus is currently operational effectiveness, whereby they see tremendous potential for improving their business process, ranging from the use of IoT for preventative maintenance, the use of drones to check oil pipelines and robotics algorithms for administrative tasks. However, the customer perspective is implemented as well in term of connected cars, automated driving vehicles and retail analytics for instance. As we have experienced, they view the digital strategy as an integral part of the business strategy and should no longer be regarded as a stand-alone business unit. In the oil industry, they do not expect as much disruption as compared to other industries since this business involves high entry costs in the infrastructure. Nevertheless, staying at the top of global trends is highly important. photo by Kar Ying text by Rebencca & Nina

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Stellenbosch University (Launch Lab), Thuesday, 31.1 Warmly welcomed by the responsible for International Collaboration, we’ve started our tour on the university campus, which includes pretty much anything a student could wish for: libraries, shopping and eating mall, cinemas, different buildings for various study disciplines and first and foremost a whole bunch of intelligently looking and talking students from all over the world. After finishing our tour we’ve arrived at the LaunchLab, which is a currently only at Stellenbosh University existing facility for young entrepreneurs who want to create a start-up. Within the LaunchLab, they have space for working, access to internet, a coffee shop as well as access to a various set of programs and activities around starting an own business. They even provide sponsors for the new businesses. We had the chance to listen to three pitches from three already existing start-ups and to ask whatever question we had. Spatial Edge: a data-driven company for costumer analysis and profiling using location and business intelligence. InstalMentAId: An unemployment insurance company providing financial security to middle-class people. Custos: A anti-piracy company using bounties and bitcoin wins to detect pirated new films. photo by Eliane text by Eliane & Rudolf

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Swiss Embassy, Thuesday, 24.1 Switzerland is top eight of countries in numbers of tourists coming to South Africa and imports many materials from South Africa. Platin is number one whereas South Africa imports precision machines and watches from Switzerland. An intern at Swiss Embassy needs to be able (among various other things) to consolidate the country's situation into a weekly report, which is then sent to the Swiss Government. There are more than 100 CH-companies operating in South Africa employing 80 000 persons. Swiss Business Hub in Pretoria and SwissCham support most of those SMEs and promote export. There is a Pro Helvetia antenna in Johannesburg which collaborates with the embassy for culture and art mediation within South Africa and Switzerland. So called Small Embassy Projects sustain transformation in the country with projects like Artisanal Bakeries. Research projects such as PIVET should help to train local people on practical skills. To summarize: The Swiss Embassy has a whole lot of projects going on (research projects, art mediation, business enhancement etc.) We were wondering sometimes how they can keep the overview. photo by Eliane text by Eliane & Rudolf

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Kanonkop Wine Estate, Thuesday, 31.1 Over the front door of the main building at the Kanonkop Wine Estate, visitors can read: “Pinotage is the juice extracted from women’s tongues and lions’ hearts. After having a sufficient quantity one can talk forever and fight the devil.” We tasted many different red wines and learnt about their character and structure. Johann, member of the owner family, explained us how to approach a good glass of wine appropriately. We were surprised by a visit by Jannie, Head of Innovation at Vodacom, whom we had met the week before in Pretoria. Together we spent a lovely evening, enjoying a “snoek braai”. photo by Kathrin text by Zoltan